Friday, January 7, 2011

Poetry Friday, #283, & A New Poem Series!



Warm Lamp Bulb
Photo by Amy LV


Happy Poetry Friday!  This is the first Friday of 2011, and my first poem in a series of poems about words and reading and books.  2010 brought 31 poems about poems, and lately I have been enjoying writing about reading, perhaps because one of my resolutions is to read more books.  We shall see how long this series will last.

Students - as I have mentioned before, there are times when poets fall in love with a particular rhythm.  This happened to me this week. If you go back to Tuesday's poem, "Lonely," and read it alongside this one, you will feel that the beats are much the same.

Sometimes our writing minds get in a beat-groove and like dancing in one place.  I like staying in one place for a while and then moving along the dance floor to a new place.  It's good to be aware of how our writing sounds...just like watching ourselves dance in a mirror!

This March, Lee Bennett Hopkins has a new book coming out, illustrated by Yayo. It is called I AM THE BOOK, and I am pleased to share that I have a poem in this book and can barely wait to see the illustrations.


Over at Poetry for Children, Sylvia Vardell has posted her "Favorite Poetry of 2010."  Don't miss her recommendations!

For any of you who might have missed last Poetry Friday due to New Year's festivities, please don't miss teacher Theresa Annello's generous post about her students' poetry calendar project which now also lives in the sidebar along with its Classroom Poetry Peek friends.

For the complete Poetry Friday roundup full of poetic favorites, originals, stories, and information, visit Irene over at Live, Love, Explore!

(Please click on COMMENTS below to share a thought.)

18 comments:

  1. What memories "Late at Night" evokes. Pleasant memories of both the lure of books and my innocence.

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  2. I am so looking forward to I AM THE BOOK! Congrats on the inclusion of your poem. How wonderful!!

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  3. Last night I told my 9-year-old that he can keep his light on to read to himself as long as he wants to. He still opted for us to read aloud to him until he fell asleep. I remember being crazy for light to read by when I was his age.

    I love that lamp.

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  4. Oh this was lovely! This brough back so many memories!

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  5. I love how the mom in your poem just reaches over to feel the bulb; no words necessary. She knows! We know! Great poetic flow.

    Congrats on getting your poem in that Hopkins book!

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  6. That's great, Amy, though I wonder if that fancy shmancy light bulb would stay warm long enough to get caught?

    I have a variation on this memory: I had a little transistor radio that I'd spend late night hours with trying to see if I could hear AM stations from all 50 states. The batteries in the back got very warm, leading to the same inability to deny the truth!

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  7. BIG congrats on having a poem in Lee's book, Amy! My father still talks about getting caught reading by flashlight under the covers when he was little. He didn't realize the light glowed through the blankets.

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  8. Your poem made me smile. Love the generational link!

    And I so look forward to I Am the Book and seeing your poem there. Congratulations!

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  9. What a treat to come home from out of town to so many memories of sneaking reading and radio listening at night. Thank you, friends, for your kind words about Lee's book and for sharing your own stories here. There's nothing better than both a child and a parent feeling like they're getting away with something good here. hee hee! A.

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  10. Congrats on your poem being included in Lee's book! Love today's poem, I'm guilty as charged. Always a warm lamp . . .

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  11. Amy,

    Great poems all week. "Late at Night" reminds me of a classroom conversation this week about being hooked by your book. Will have to share it with my students on Monday. Here's to late night reading! Happy weekend!
    ~Theresa

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  12. Looking forward to the poems in this new series!

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  13. Hi, Amy--

    You are the book indeed! Somehow, even though I knew exactly what that poem would be about, I ended up surprised all the same. But I have to say this poem makes me a little sad, and the photo makes me sadder, and the Kindle that arrived in our house this holiday makes me saddest. I'm resisting, with an uncharacteristic conservative streak, the shift away from reading under the covers with a flashlight, or even by the light of a bedside lamp.

    Congratulations!

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  14. Amy,

    I enjoyed all your Poetry Friday poems about poetry. I look forward to reading your poems about words and readings and books.

    Happy New Year!

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  15. I love this poem! I love reading about reading and other book-lovers.

    -Rachel @ Even in Australia, eveninaustraliakidlit.blogspot.com

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  16. I used to fall asleep in the hallway because I would read by the light of the downstairs hallway light. Thought that I would get in trouble if I turned on my light to read but apparently being found snoring in the hall was not a problem! I think that Natalie claims that she is afraid of the dark and wants her hallway light on so that she can read.

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  17. Hi Jama, Theresa, Mary Lee, Heidi, Elaine, Rachel, and Lori, We should have some kind of club for secret-nighttime-readers! Happy New Year! A.

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